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“Um…” Sloane’s voice broke up the silence. I brought my attention back to her. “Mimi, that’s three different parties.”
I grimaced and then shrugged. The celebrations had slowly grown on me, though I wasn’t all that excited about being in the center of them. Everyone here just had so much fun, and I liked the idea of being another reason they got to enjoy themselves.
“Yep.” I popped the ‘p’ the way she always did, hoping it would make her laugh. She snorted.
“That trick’s not going to work on me, Mimi.”
“You should let it,” I muttered. “I didn’t pester you when you used it to keep from talking about the fact that the rites involved having sex in front of people, for crying out loud.”
Her blush was so deep that Jacob laughed. He twisted a piece of her hair around his finger, not unlike what Callum was doing. Maybe it was a guy thing? I’d never had a long-term enough boyfriend to have extended cuddle sessions. Or maybe alphas just liked touching omegas. I wasn’t going to complain about it.
“My heart,” Jacob mused, “she has you there.”
She brushed away his hand.
“I am not talking about our knotting in front of you or her and certainly not together.” She turned back to me. “Of course it would be you, famous hater of all big, fancy events—”
“You dislike celebrations?” Callum asked, cutting off Sloane, truly curious.
I sighed and shook my head. “Not really. Just the attention. It had a lot to do with…” I trailed off and then tried to put the right kind of emphasis on the next word so he would know what I meant. “With that. The fallout of it, at least.”
His lips thinned, and a spike of anger moved across the bond.
“And with all the homes. We weren’t really given parties like that without being made to feel guilty about them.”
He gave a softer smile that was a bit forlorn. He ran his thumb over my cheekbone and kissed the tip of my nose.
“No one will be angry with you here, I promise,” he said. “As you know, we love reasons to celebrate.”
“It’s still hilarious that you’re the one with three weddings,” Sloane said with amusement.
“A coronation is not a wedding,” I groused.
“Nope, it’s an even bigger event where you’re literally the only person anyone will care bout,” Sloane said with mirth, fully embracing the possibility to pester me like only a little sister could. “At least with a wedding, there’s a second person you can deflect onto.”
“I thought you were content with our one very grand party, my heart,” Jacob murmured. He leaned down and ran his nose along her ear. It was impossible to miss the way my sister flushed and her heart beat a bit faster in her throat. “You could have told me you desired a second one. I’m sure I could have come up with a reason for a second celebration.” There was a long, loaded pause. Then he laughed, low enough it vibrated the mirror. “Oh, that’s right. I did.”
“Jacob!” Sloane’s voice was a hiss of outrage. “That’s not how I was going to tell her, and you know it!”
“Ah, but you needed to be distracted, my heart, before your sister decided to say something that would make you blush all red again,” he said, his voice full of amusement and heat. “Because you blushing like that would lead me to want to kiss you, and we both know that me kissing you leads to you begging me for—”
Sloane nearly shrieked as she covered his mouth with both hands. “Jacob Armand, shut your mouth.”
I snickered. “I’m so glad he’s on my side,” I told her honestly.
She groaned and flopped back against the sofa, splaying her arms out dramatically. “Where’s Meredith? She’ll take my side just on principal.”
“Meredith?” She hadn’t mentioned anyone the last time, I was pretty sure.
“Jacob’s mother,” she said with a smile. “She had four sons, and Jacob is the first to marry. She’ll be on my side of arguments for at least nine months, so I’m going to milk it for all it’s worth.”
I frowned. That was a really specific amount of time for her to list. Jacob just smirked.
“That is also not how you had planned to tell her,” he said lightly.
Sloane scoffed. “It’s not super obvious, calm down.”
“Nine months?” I clarified.
